Scene and Heard: Scene's News Blog

Medina County's Chippewa Lake Park, known to some as a relentlessly creepy abandoned amusement park and to others as a northeast Ohio landmark, rich with the memories of yesteryear, may be getting a makeover.

The folks at Flying Cages LLC, a Cleveland-based real estate development company, have drawn up plans to transform the long-dormant amusement park grounds into a three-season outdoor concert venue complex- think a mini Blossom Music Center- complete with 30 acres of wooded campgrounds and open-air markets with space for over 100 vendors.

Between pavilion and lawn seating, the music complex would house some 8,000 visitors and would ideally draw big-name national acts, comparable to those who perform at Blossom.

“We’re not just reviving the park and bringing back the live music, we’re going to restore the beautiful land and contribute to its surrounding communities while preserving a legacy,” Flying Cages President Scott Jones said. Jones is also President of the Cleveland music and entertainment group Jerry Bruno Productions.

While Flying Cages has developed a fairly extensive business plan, the company is still in the early stages of finding investors to fund the project.

Between purchasing the land and renovating it, Jones told Scene the company is looking at "a $5 million endeavor," the sum of which "we just don't have."

He said he has gotten a few bites, but that he'll need to bring more secure funding on board before ground can be broken.

Jones, who has family ties to the Chippewa Lake Amusement Park (his parents actually met there), said he's keen to preserve the few still-standing attractions- namely the Ferris wheel and the Flying Cages ride- as mementos of the past.

In the future, he would even like to install a working carousel or Ferris wheel as homage to the space.

You can check out the development plans here, and leave your vehement yays or nays to Jones' plans below.